One of my former bosses is a well known bully and a-hole in our field. He would call at 9pm tonight and expect to have a full conversation about whatever work project he chose to talk to you about. He would not come into the office until 4pm and then demand that every employee stay so that he could meet with them. Several employees and individual meetings that would last 1/2 hour or more. Ugh. If I left without meeting with him, he would call me all bewildered, "where did you go?" And my personal favorite, "Well when are you coming back?" Um. I am not, dumbass. See you tomorrow. And his meetings were ridiculous. They consisted of agenda items that could be accomplished in email or by leaving things like reimbursement checks for expenses in my inbox. He was also a major yeller. And he could be viciously mean. I cannot even tell you how much I enjoyed quitting.

Anonymous wrote:When I worked at a fast food joint in high school, my boss used to sit around in the office and watch the elevator scene from Fatal Attraction over and over and over. And then he'd come out and bark at us "hey, I'm the one that earns $21,000 a year around here, not you."

I'm disturbed - but oddly, laughing, too!

When I worked at a fast food joint in high school, my boss used to sit around in the office and watch the elevator scene from Fatal Attraction over and over and over. And then he'd come out and bark at us "hey, I'm the one that earns $21,000 a year around here, not you."

My first job out of school I was a legal assistant, assigned to a lovable but crazy attorney at a large law firm. She loved the color purple. So much that she would setimes ask me to gather cubes of multi-color sticky notes and remove all of the purple layers, to create all-purple cubes.

I worked for a woman who was a lawyer but had been promoted to general manager of Engineering and Environmental Services, about which she knew absolutely nothing. One day one of the electricians has turn the electricity off to take care of a problem and he said he had to wait for a 1/2 hour because it was too hot to take care of problem immediately. She looked at him and said, "what do you mean i's too hot. It's only 65 degrees today." Another time she went to a meeting, unprepared as always, and announced that a major thoroughfare was going to be raised 5 feet (it was only five inches and I had told her so before the meeting), apparently, the other people at the meeting were rolling on the floor laughing at her. Another time she told sewer workers not to cap a sewer line because it costs too much.

My boss just got fired, yesterday. He was the second one in 8 months to get the ax. He deserved it.

Wow - I've had 4 bosses in my career and they've all been great. I keep in touch with all my old bosses and they've all been mentors to me in some way. Makes me very thankful reading this thread - I should send them all a note! My current boss is awesome and super supportive of working moms. I should count my blessings!

These stories are already making me feel better!

I was working on a project at a major corporation which was not completed when it was scheduled to (surprise, surprise), and it ran over into the next month -- which was the month I was getting married. First this terrible boss had the nerve to say to me "Uh, I don't guess that I could ask you to change your wedding date" -- mind you, I was having a fairly large church wedding which had been planned for six months, and a week long trip to Hawaii for our honeymoon! I was shocked. My boss then told my coworkers that I was "too busy" for them to give me a wedding shower/lunch. Yeah, that hour would have been critical to the project! All of this when I was a lowly analyst, in charge of no one. Grrr...

When I worked at a small non-profit, my boss used to take the office supplies I ordered (for herself). At a small place, something like desk supplies are a big deal, because the budget is tight. But it was so small hat it's not like she could hide the fact she took my stuff. But she had seniority and got away with it.
She was also an idiot who could not remember th names of the THREE people under her.

I've had two STAND out bad bosses in my past... one was insane, think Devil Wears Prada. Made me sit on conference calls taking notes from her 5 year old niece on what she and her brothers wanted for Christmas, then send me out, running all over the city looking for the purple Barbie car that Mattel never made...let me tell you, you better frickin' buy the pink one and go the hardware store for some purple paint, because coming back to the office empty handed was not acceptable.

The other was an ADD/ADHD mess of a woman. Company priorities would change--HOURLY, and no one could accomplish anything-- becasue what was a priority last week and what you've been busting your tail on, no longer is relevant.

I know work in absolutely DIVINE environment and love every minute. I remember those days and, OP, I feel your pain. Hang in there-- what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger.

I had a boss that used to stroll in at 10am or 10:30 most days, but then expect me to work past 6pm when he finally got around to working. (I had a set schedule of 8-5pm or 9-6pm or else overtime would start, plus I usually wanted to get home at that point since I'd put in a full day.) He thought because I was single, I would just stay as long as he would since he was a night owl.

There were far worse things he did, but whenever he was talking to me, I would secretly picture Jabba the Hut talking to me so it made me chuckle on the inside. It was my form of mental retaliation.

My boss micromanages my leave. He suggested that I take my vacation when he takes his own. He recently declined a day I requested off in case "I was needed to make copies"........I wasn't needed.

My old boss used to send me emails asking me why I wasn't smarter.

I just found out that I will temporarily have a boss who is going to be a disaster and I am feeling an impending sense of doom. This guy is currently a co-worker and is a nightmare to deal with (micromanages, threatened by others, interjects himself into everything, makes inappropriate/insulting remarks, etc). He will temporarily be my boss while they search for a permanent replacement. I'm really struggling about how to just grin and bear it. While I try to convince myself to just suck it up and be a grown up, I thought I'd ask for some stories from others so that at least I know I'm not alone. So tell me your horrible boss stories - maybe it will make me feel better about my own situation!